The government agreement to stop logging in Tasmania's wild forests is clear: logging must stop in the 430,000ha that the Prime Minister and Premier said would be protected, Australian Greens Deputy Leader Christine Milne said today.

"We've heard that Forestry Tasmania cannot move its logging out of the area. The next step is to issue compensation to those contract holders as the agreement clearly states," Senator Milne said.

The Tarkine Devil Project jointly launched by Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, today will be an important step in saving the Tasmanian devil from extinction, but National Heritage protection for the Tarkine wilderness is needed to compliment it.

"If we are really determined to stop the Tassie devil from going the way of the Tassie tiger, protecting the habitat of the last wild healthy population of devils is a must," Senator Milne said

Tony Burke's National Press Club speech today in which he outlined his intention to consider the heritage listing of many sites throughout Australia was incomplete without mention of the Tarkine region, Greens Deputy Leader, Christine Milne said.

"How can the Environment Minister stand in front of our national broadcaster and say that on one hand we must add a layer of environmental protection that acts well in advance of searching for endangered species, whilst on the other hand denying the Tarkine any immediate protection from the current Tasmanian mining rush"

The Greens Leaders have responded to Premier Lara Giddings’ call for them to show leadership by requesting she meet to discuss options for Tasmania to manage its forests for future business and job creation.  

“The Premier will lead well if she gets off the failed logging trajectory onto promising alternatives,” Senator Brown said at a press conference with Senator Milne and Mr McKim.  

Greens Leader Bob Brown says the Tasmanian forests agreement, to be finalised in a fortnight, would be fixed by the promised 572,000ha of national parks being established forthwith. 

“These forests have been studied and mapped for decades. There have been scientific assessments of their world heritage values since the early 1990s. The only possible glitch is with clearfelled, burnt and degraded areas and Forestry Tasmania knows where all these are. 

The federal Minister for Environment must explain why a review of the Tarkine's world heritage values was never made despite a pledge to do so almost five years ago, Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Christine Milne said today.

In 2007 a motion by former Democrats Senator, Andrew Bartlett, to recommend the Tarkine be assessed for world heritage values was passed by both major parties.

The Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke must heritage list the Tarkine before a decision on a referral to mine the area is made on 17 March.

Minister Burke yesterday signed a brief from his department stating that any heritage listing occurring after 17 March will not legally affect any decision made on the Shree Minerals mining proposal.

The Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke must heed the advice of the Heritage Council and immediately protect the Tarkine from future threats, says Australian Greens Deputy Leader Christine Milne.

"No area in Australia has been assessed, reassessed and then reassessed again as has occurred with the Tarkine heritage assessment with more than six delays since 2004 and a lapsed emergency listing.

"It seems that current and past environment ministers dither and call for more consultation despite being presented with the facts and the community needs to ask ,why?

The opportunity for a 100% solution to Tasmania's long standing forest conflict is compromised every day that logging continues in high conservation value forests, the Greens said today following reports that the coupe at the top of the list for a moratorium has just been logged.

"A moratorium must be placed on the highest conservation value coupes immediately," Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said.